Last night, we again welcomed TrustSTFC members to the Legends Lounge at The County Ground for our AGM. Despite the bad weather over 50 people attended and it was a great opportunity for board members to catch up with those in attendance and discuss all things Swindon Town.
The evening started with a warm welcome from Co Vice-Chairs James Spencer and Alex Pollock, who talked us through the agenda for the evening. Stand-in Secretary Paul Hedges then ran through the election results before board members introduced themselves to the audience.
The election process was conducted via online vote for the first time, which worked well, and we were pleased to see that all five candidates were re-elected.
We also gave our thanks to Treasurer Alan Jones who has decided to stand down from the board after 19 years of service. Alan will still be around though as we transition to a new Treasurer from April onwards. He’s been a fantastic servant to the Trust and has been there when we need him, paying invoices to suppliers in double-quick time, managing the accounts and the annual review, dealing with VAT and other paperwork, but more visibly giving out flyers or trust merchandise on a matchday. Thank you Alan.
The Chairman’s report then followed with a look back at our achievements for the year, before we got onto the big item for the evening, the impending purchase of the County Ground.
There’s no doubt it’s been a long and challenging road, with many dead ends – but we are very nearly there, with the sale due to complete soon. This is the culmination of 8 years of work, hundreds of meetings, thousands of emails, lots of money, and paperwork galore. It’s been a tremendous team effort, but we couldn’t have done it without member donations into the Red Army Fund, so thank you all.
Trust Hero awards were then handed out in appreciation of the following individuals:
Alan Jones and Keith Coatsworth – for outstanding TrustSTFC board member service
James Phipps, Greg Callard, James Maton, Rob Angus, Neil Hutchings, Mike Welsh and David Bresnick – for their dedication and support on the County Ground purchase
The audience also gave rounds of applause in appreciation of the late Nigel Eady and his Trustees Rob Carter, John Carter, Gary Herbert and Jez Webb, who have done an amazing job of investing and developing the financial legacy that Nigel generously left for the club and supporters.
Chris Kyle and Hannah Clinch from The Supporters Club gave us an excellent presentation, talking through all of the impressive work they have been doing over the last 12 months.
Trust Chairman Steve Mytton then gave an update on the Don Rogers statue, which is progressing well and will soon be ready for bronzing.
Steve was then joined by board member Neil Hutchings, to talk through the County Ground update, and announce the launch of the new Voting Share and County Ground Community Fund offerings.
We closed out the evening by holding a Q&A with Swindon Town Chief Executive Rob Angus, who answered openly and honestly all of the questions that were put to him by the audience.
All in all, a successful and enjoyable evening. A big ‘Thank you’ to everyone who came along.
The AGM pack is available to download here